Clausen Takes Flw Tour Title

OUTDOORS

Luke Clausen's fish held out for one more day, giving him a slim victory over Scott Martin of Clewiston on Saturday at the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship in Birmingham, Ala.

Clausen, 26, an FLW Tour rookie from Spokane, Wash., had the heaviest stringer in the opening round Wednesday and Thursday as well as the biggest bag Friday. Saturday, with the 12 remaining pros from the original field of 48 starting from scratch on Logan Martin Lake, Clausen captured the $500,000 first prize with a five-fish limit weighing 14 pounds, 10 ounces.

"This week things just came together for me," said Clausen, who used a plastic finesse worm to catch most of his fish.

Martin, son of bass fishing great Roland Martin, was second at 14 pounds, 10 ounces and won $50,000. Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., was third at 13-7 to win $40,000, followed by Jimmy Millsaps of Canton, Ga., at 12-4 ($35,000). Ocala pro Glenn Browne placed 10th for a five-bass limit that weighed 5 pounds ($20,000).

The event began Wednesday with the top 48 pros and 48 co-anglers based on year-end points standings competing for two days for one of 24 semifinal-round slots. Pros were seeded based on year-end rankings and competed bracket-style, with the No. 1 pro fishing against the No. 48 pro, and so on. Co-anglers competed against their entire field. After the first round, the winner of each seed advanced to the semifinals. Those 24 anglers again competed head-to-head for one of 12 slots in Saturday's final.